Say Goodbye to the Blatt

By Phil Hecken, on June 26th, 2010

By Phil Hecken

That photo above? What’s depicted is not some war memorial or something you’d see at the Louvre or MoMA. That statue is entitled “The Road To Omaha” and it’s found at the entrance to Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, which has hosted the College World Series since 1950.

Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, or The Blatt as it is known in local parlance, was constructed in 1947, and was first built as a home to the Single-A Omaha Cardinals (a St. Louis Cards farm team in the Western League), who began play in 1948. In 1955, the Triple-A Omaha Cardinals (another St. Looie affiliate in the American Association) began playing there, and for the better part of the next 55 years, Rosenblatt Stadium has hosted a Triple A team (the Cards remained there until 1959). In 1961 and 1962, the Dodgers farm club (Triple-A Omaha Dodgers) called her home, and from 1969 through today, the Omaha Royals (you guessed it, a Triple-A affliliate of the Kansas City Royals) have been the Blatt’s primary tenants.

The stadium was officially named “Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium” in 1964. Rosenblatt himself was the Mayor of Omaha from 1954 through 1961, and was instrumental in bringing a ballpark to that city. He pushed for its construction and was personally responsible for locating the site on which the park now sits.

The Blatt holds the current distinction of being the largest stadium in the minor leagues, with a capacity in excess of 23,000. That’s huge by any standards, but it’s not like they’re packing them in to see the Royals Triple-A team (seating capacity for Royals games is a mere 8,859). Why then, is the Blatt so big? For the yearly event that has become synonymous with both Omaha and College baseball — the College World Series.

Sadly, 2010 marks the final year for the CWS in Rosenblatt Stadium, which has hosted the College World Seriesalmost as long as there has been a CWS. The first CWS was played in 1947, and then again 1948, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For one year, the CWS moved to Wichita, Kansas (where former President George H.W. Bush captained his Yale team). But by 1950, looking for a bigger and permanent home, the CWS was moved to Omaha Municipal Stadium, and it has been played in this stadium ever since. Over the next sixty years, perhaps no other sporting event is more synonymous with a single city than are Omaha and the College World Series.

Over the past sixty years, the City of Omaha, which has symbiotically benefitted from the CWS, of course, has invested some $35 million to keep the stadium up to championship caliber. When first opened in 1948, seating capacity increased from 10,000 to the current capacity of more than 23,000 — with 17,700 seats located in the grandstand and View Club, while another 5,400 patrons occupy the outfield bleacher seats, which are sold as General Admission. Of course, some of the best “seats” may not be found inside the stadium at all.

One more great feature of the Blatt is the fact that it’s one of just a few stadia that don’t feature obnoxious piped in music, but instead features a live, full-time organist.

Time marches on, of course, and to use another cliche, all good things must come to an end. So too it is with baseball at the Blatt. The 2010 season will see the last CWS there, as it, and the current tenant, the Omaha Royals, will be vacating the premises for 2011. The College World Series of Omaha, Inc., the local non-profit organizing body, determined in 2005 that it would cost at least $25 million in future improvements to Rosenblatt Stadium to ensure it would continue to be a viable venue to host the NCAA baseball championship. Instead of refurbishing the Blatt, on April 30, 2009, the city of Omaha and the NCAA agreed on a memorandum of understanding, outlining a preliminary agreement to keep the World Series in Omaha for another 25 years (through 2035).

Unfortunately, that agreement stipulated that the series be moved to the new downtown stadium by 2011. Rosenblatt Stadium, home to the CWS since 1950, will be torn down after the 2010 season, with its land slated to become a parking lot for Omaha’s zoo — it will be part of an overall expansion of the zoo that will include a new visitor’s center and a new Arctic exhibit on what is now the Zoo’s primary parking area east of 10th Street. The new ballpark will be built next to the Qwest Center and open in 2011. Of course, that new stadium will not be named Rosenblatt Stadium II, but another corporately-sponsored park — TD Ameritrade Park. The O-Royals will also be getting new digs, but unfortunately, not in Omaha — they’ll be moving into the tentatively-named Sarpy County Ballpark, located in Papillion, Nebraska.

While I’m not a huge fan of the College World Series, I do watch it when I can (something about metal bats, particularly the “ping,” just doesn’t do it for me). This year the bracket looks like this, and the eight teams who have reached it (Florida, UCLA, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Arizona State, Clemson, TCU and Florida State) will continue to battle it out through the weekend, with the best 2 out of 3 final beginning Monday night. Normally, my predecessor on the UW Bench, Bryan Redemske, provides us with a nice breakdown of the CWS and the unis, but Paul informed me on Thursday that unfortunately, he’s too busy for that rundown this year. Feel free to use the comment section below to post and discuss the unis of the teams involved — some of them, particularly UCLA, have some pretty sweet unis. Others, like South Carolina and Florida State are fine as well. Others…not so much.

~~~~~~~~~~

How much money is a good instructor worth? Perhaps we’ll never know. Here’s Rick:

Defense is important. Never sell it short. Give ’em only three outs an inning, that’s the goal. Gotta have a goal. Even, y’know, if it’s borderline unattainable.

Back at the beginning of the 2010 season, I announced the 2010 Uni Tracking that a number of us do. Last year, I devoted about four full weekend columns to it, and that was probably a bit much for most of us to take in one dose, so this year, I’ll occasionally post the updated tracking of certain teams as the trackers send them in. So, if you’ve been doing your due diligence with your team, send me your mid-season tracking reports, and I’ll post them as a “sub article” on the weekends. OK? OK!

Last weekend featured the Rockies, and this weekend we have an entry from Jordan Wiley, who is tracking the Northsiders. Jordan didn’t provide me with any kind of writeup (the chart speaks for itself), but as of last weekend, the Cubs weren’t particularly good when wearing their traditional road grays, and they had yet to wear the blue softball top over the pinstriped pants. Hmmmm. Here’s a screenshot of Jordan’s tracking.

While he didn’t include an analysis, he did include a nice note:

Thanks for your weekend articles. Also, in light of the recent criticisms of the site throughout every comment section, I just want to say that I truly appreciate all the hard work that you and Paul do, regardless of whether I find every single item interesting. You guys put up a wonderful website. Thank you.

No, Jordan. Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~

Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Lots to get to, and if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. Still finding the tweaks have slowed to a trickle, so if you have something you’d like to show, give me a shout.

~~~

Just one huge set of tweaks today, and it comes from Daniel Rerko, who actually sent along eighty-seven NFL separate tweaks. Says Daniel, “I am sending you a gallery of 87 uniform tweaks for NFL teams on Flickr. Some of them are terrible, but some of them turned out pretty well. I hope you enjoy!” We’ll just divide those up into several different subsets, which we’ll look at over the next few weeks, but some of them are actually quite interesting. For the first batch, here we go:

That’s all for today. We’ll have more from Daniel next weekend. Keep those tweaks coming!

~~~~~~~~~~

Fresh of the golf course, where he *says* he “Shot 74. Four bogies, one birdie, 13 pars, 9 beers. Successful day,” the inimitable Ben Traxel (yes, those are his Giants rups and square-toed shoes) is back for more musings and missives.

I don’t care how hideous Olympic Stadium was, or that it was an engineering failure. It was still pioneering. Actually, it does have some Jetson’s attractiveness to it — at least on the exterior. Never seen a good pic of the innards.

Gotta mention that tennis match. Whoa. Same night our band of 8-10 year olds survived a marathon as well. All 16 innings. That’s 10 extras that most parents hadn’t planned on spending in the dusty 95 degree heat. Coaching 3rd, I learned something. Don’t yell at a sweaty fussy mom’s little Johnny for taking a third strike off a pitching machine. Won’t do that again. We lost 14-11 but at least we looked good in our custom rups from Comrade Marshall. Authentic replicas will be unveiled soon here. www.robertmarshallart.com Game warns available too. Make offer.

Nice site upgrades Lukas and Ek! Ever wonder how much productivity throughout the land gets stagnated on a daily basis due to this whole charade? Sure would make me smile.

~~~

Thanks Ben. Always good to have those deep thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~

That will do it for this fine Saturday. Don’t forget there’s that soccer thing going on this afternoon (USA vs. Ghana, 2:30 pm, EDT on ABC), the next to last (thankfully) of the Interplague series, and Wimbledon and more. And then there’s the A’s doing that Turn Back The Clock disco thingy where they will be sporting the monochrome gold uni (that was, I believe, worn only once, in an All-Star Game, by Vida Blue — but I could be wrong). Can’t wait to see how badly they butcher that one. Good times, good times, indeed.

met the queen of england today …. she said she loved me in the american pie movies — Tweet from Andy Roddick @ Wimbledon

Thanks for picking up the slack, Phil. I’ll try to plan ahead next year.

Greg B.|
June 26, 2010 at 8:02 am |

Going back to the site redesign, Paul wrote this when it debuted:

“- The “Categories” listing, which used to take up, like, a mile of space in the right-hand rail, is now a housed in a pop-up menu. Much better.

– Just below that, you’ll see that the site’s archives are also accessible in a pop-up menu.

– The “Links” listing (or what other sites call a blogroll, but I’ve never liked that term) is now called “Uni Watch Recommends.” Unfortunately, we can’t put it in a pop-up menu, so for now it’s just one huge collapsible list. ”

(BTW, is there still quote capability here? No mention of it)

Anyhow, as I’m sure someone has noticed, this all disappears when you click on the “comments” tag to get into an individual day entry. It only shows when you visit the main page.

I would have posted this yesterday but the site would not allow entry into a comment page. It just hung and spun its wheels.

Not a fan of the new logo either. But then again, I have never encountered an upgrade of a website that I liked right away. Strange phenomenon, that. The lack of any huge amount of negative outcry here probably means this one didn’t go too badly compared to most upgrades.

It’s disappearing only on certain individual posts. As far as I can tell, it appears to be caused by something in the comments section (probably a comment that doesn’t close a tag or something like that).

I’m watching it so I can identify exactly what it is.

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 8:11 am |

Somehow this “ensemble” is just too…anachronistic (unless maybe we dig out a photo of Toby Harrah during his time in Cleveland, but he was an exception).http://www.flickr.com/photos/50946457@N08/4732279622/
With the white jerseys would have looked a whole lot better, I’d imagine.

Not as disgusting as losing your $100 million QB to a knee injury because some hack who will be packing groceries in 2 weeks decided to try to stay around a 3rd week at training camp.

BTW – no great pics of the interior of Olympic Stadium because they don’t exist. It’s a big ugly cavernous hole. No atmosphere at all.

SB

flip|
June 26, 2010 at 1:50 pm |

Yeah, the innards of Olympic Stadium were cavernous, but it made for a terrific backdrop for one of my favorite YouTube videos, Emerson Lake & Palmer playing “Fanfare for The Common Man” there. The full version has been removed, but there’s this short version, which offers a fair representation of the stadium. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we55QQcsvY4

Still, I wish I would have gone to see a game there, especially when the Expos were something to behold.

TJB|
June 26, 2010 at 10:50 am |

Ref to the John Ellis baseball card. I believe this card was discussed on here in the past. If I remember correctly, the pic is of John as a Yankee (road uni) and then “Topps-a-morphasized” into an Indians Uni. As was the stirrups of the player standing next to Ellis as he argued with the ump.

Beardface|
June 26, 2010 at 11:09 am |

Just signed on for the first time in a couple weeks…. Have to say, I am diggin the site update. Very cool.

Oakville Endive|
June 26, 2010 at 11:15 am |

Bengals white set is interesting – but wouldn’t they have to be re-named to the Siberian Tigers? Baltimore adopting the Maryland state flag, would make them look too much like the Redskins – besides being unique looking – I’m not as caught up with this fascination with that particular state flag.

Unfortunately, my last place finish in the 1981 punt pass and kick which ended in an impressive temper tantrum derailed my kicking career rather early.

mmwatkin|
June 26, 2010 at 11:47 am |

I love the College World Series

Two great elimination games on today. Losers go home, winners head to the championship.

For those like me that couldn’t give a damn about the World Cup game, TCU-UCLA is on at 2 pm on ESPN2 and Clemson-South Carolina is on at 7 pm on ESPN.

I have to root for TCU and South Carolina today.

jacob in Annapolis|
June 26, 2010 at 12:03 pm |

If the Ravens ever go to a completely Maryland flag-based design, they would definitely feature the Baltimore colors (black and gold) more than the Calvert colors (white and red)

I liked the yellow pants idea and the Baltimore crest on the shoulder pad ideas a lot. I think you have to keep purple though. If you gave that team a regular number font and lose the drop shadow, those are very good uniforms even without any other tweaks.

Jim Vilk|
June 26, 2010 at 12:31 pm |

Good to see a Benchies with a hidden public service announcement – wear those cups, boys!

I’m with Trax – the softball tops look good with the striped stirrups.

First and last tweaks are my favorites. Especially the Vikings one. The ’66 Steelers uni actually looks better on the modern almost-sleeveless unis, than it did in ’66. Tsk tsk on putting the logo on the wrong side of the helmet, though. ;)

So long, Rosenblatt. Gone too soon, and for not much of a good reason.

Go USA!

Jim Vilk|
June 26, 2010 at 12:33 pm |

By the way, I get around the new reply feature by just copying and pasting comments, then adding my take. Beats having to go back and re-read the whole section on a busy day.

I know this new format is a work in progress, and have to say I love all of the changes thus far. That being said, the one thing I do miss are the numbered hyperlinks to each post. When post counts are near 100, it is very helpful keeping track of things. If we had that back along with this new reply feature, we have now, it would be close to perfect.

I’m still working on getting the numbered comment feature to display properly.

Mike Edgerly|
June 26, 2010 at 12:34 pm |

There’s a lot of irony in potentially naming the L.A. version of the Jaguars the “Sharks”, since I used to go watch the Jacksonville Sharks in the WFL! (and the current arena football team is named the same.)

. . . not to mention all of Peter King’s West Side Story allusions when the Sharks play the Jets.

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 1:46 pm |

Had that in WHA with the Winnipeg Jets.

—Ricko

JTH|
June 27, 2010 at 1:01 am |

Had that in NHL with… Winnipeg Jets.

Mike Miller|
June 27, 2010 at 2:14 am |

Not for very long, Sharks came in in 1991 (unless you count their existence as the Golden Seals/Barons/divergence of North Stars, which I do) and the Jets flew south in 1996.

JTH|
June 27, 2010 at 8:40 am |

No. Strictly talking Sharks/Jets. Otherwise, we’d have to consider the Yotes as well.

..and for that matter, the NHL Sharks/Jets combo was around for more seasons than the WHA Sharks/Jets.

Dan|
June 26, 2010 at 4:09 pm |

Best alternate name I heard for a Jacksonville – relo to LA was the Los Angeles Legion. Although I’m not usually a fan of collective names (I mean, if an individual member of the Lakers is a Laker, an individual member of the Heat is a ?), at least with this one, it has a ready made association with the city, hearkening back to the L.A. Coliseum (although, more appropriate name is Gladiators?). Alliteration is always good, too.

As for the Sharks, leave that to San Jose.

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 6:39 pm |

So the logo will be a bunch of guys sitting at the bar waiting for the Meat Raffle drawing to start? ;)

—Ricko

Daniel Rerko|
June 27, 2010 at 1:26 am |

Sorry about the “Jags to LA” team names. I was just trying to find a pre-existing logo that I could use and then base a team name off of it (As a high school kid, it is hard to design fresh, new logos on a simple MS Paint program. If I actually had some skill with a more advanced program, I would have given something like designing a try. I’m sorry if this made anyone mad.) I wasn’t really thinking about the WFL and all of those other teams who are the Sharks. I was just thinking what would fit in LA, so I thought of the Sharks. I didn’t even think of San Jose, which makes me feel pretty dumb about the whole Sharks idea. I also felt bad about the Grizzlies, because that would be two bear-related teams in the NFL.

M.Princip|
June 26, 2010 at 12:35 pm |

I have to respectfully disagree with Mr.Rerko, purple and black works very well with the Ravens. The MD state flag colors look great as accent colors poppin’ off the purple and black.

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 12:40 pm |

‘Tis true. A comic book artist drawing a raven would, of course, ink it black, but any highlighting would likely be blue or purple.

In 2000, the Chicago Cubs named four captains, Sosa, Grace, Aguilera and Tapani. They wore a “C” on the right sleeve of their white jerseys.

They continued to use the C in 2001, only Grace and Aguilera were no longer on the team. Sosa was still a captain and I assume Tapani was still one. I found a picture of Eric Young wearing the C in 2001. Any idea who else may have worn a C in 2001?

Not sure if Paul reads comments on the weekends much, but I went back to his 4-part column on World Cup kits on ESPN and found an interesting inconsistency. The first two installments are denoted Part I and Part II, while the last two are Part 3 and Part 4. Seems odd to switch numbering styles mid-series, especially considering the attention to detail that is a staple of his work, but could just be that the editors do the titles or change things after the fact.

Since widepread “black creep” sort of began in the NHL with the Kings wanting to look like the Raiders, it figures those fans would be the first to tire of it.

Not to mention the Lakers just won a title for L.A. in purple and gold.

—Ricko

Oakville Endive|
June 26, 2010 at 2:32 pm |

From a uni-centric stand-point – it was definitely the most notable event.

The Minnesota draft pick, wore their baseball style green jersey, and the Sharks draft pick donned their third jersey black uni, which is a bit disconcerting – for those of us- who think there are far too many black uniforms – but it should be noted – that Don Cherry blamed the Sharks 4-0 exit to the Blackhawks – on their teal uniform – they need to look tougher – Cherry epoused – they should wear their black uniforms all the time – maybe the Sharks were listening. If they were – they should also think about the Flyers – who wear that very rough and tough colour – orange.

JTH|
June 27, 2010 at 1:07 am |

Isles went with white, right?

And is red a tough color? That’s what the team that swept the sharks was wearing at home.

Robert Eden|
June 26, 2010 at 2:29 pm |

Thank you, Phil, for the great send-off to Rosenblatt. I saw many games there back in the good ol’ days, and will be sad to see it go.

Oh, and I refused to call it The Blatt. It just didn’t seem respectful. I still call it Rosenblatt.

Jim Vilk|
June 26, 2010 at 2:31 pm |

US/Ghana underway.

Didn’t think this game was gonna be Top 5 material, but Ghana’s ketchup and mustard unis are pretty cool. USA in the understated all-whites. Might squeak onto the list.

Ian Darke had a great line for Wednesday’s victory over Algeria: “The Euphoria in Pretoria.”

LI Phil|
June 26, 2010 at 2:50 pm |

is the US expected to win this one? looks like they’re getting outplayed…

are the ref’s pre-advised to disallow US goals with phantom “offsides” in this match?

Ew. Reminds me too much of Ronald McDonald. And the white numbers on the front of the shirt are lost on the yellow stripe. This is one kit that could have used a touch of black.
But I’m starting to kind of like the US whites. The gray baldric really pops on the HDTV in my living room, though it’s invisible on my cheapo set.
For the record, I already submitted my 5&1, at the conclusion of Group Play. Today’s games are up for consideration next week, for me.

-I like seeing pics of the construction and destruction of stadiums, especially when they are so close. I didn’t realize these two were that close. Did they have to delay finishing the new Busch until tearing down some of the old? And did they tear some old down before the season ended, like they did in Cincy?

-And thirdly, I hope they move that statue from Rosenblatt to the new stadium. Things won’t be the same, but the fans are what make the CWS exciting.

Mike Miller|
June 27, 2010 at 2:18 am |

The Mariners look pretty close to the way I remember those. Of course, since they were playing Milwaukee, they should have worn Pilots throwbacks.

Mike|
June 26, 2010 at 3:21 pm |

“And then there’s the A’s doing that Turn Back The Clock disco thingy where they will be sporting the monochrome gold uni (that was, I believe, worn only once, in an All-Star Game, by Vida Blue – but I could be wrong)”

During the A’s game last night Ray Fosse and Joe Rudi were talking about how that hated every time they wore the all golds because it always seemed like they lost and they didn’t like the all green because they felt like softball players. So it sure did sound like they wore the jerseys once and awhile.

LI Phil|
June 26, 2010 at 3:30 pm |

the did frequently wear the all golds when they were still the cotton unis (68-71); when they went to the poly double-knits, i don’t believe the wore the all golds (except, as i mentioned, in the ASG); i could be wrong, but they may be misremembering which gold uni they’re throwing back to…

and as far as the all green, thankfully ricko has provided us with that one photo of them wearing it — i wouldn’t be surprised if that was a one and done as well

not saying rudi and fosse are *wrong*, but they may be recalling the (much more frequently worn) cotton unis from 71 and earlier, NOT the one’s they’re throwing back to today

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 4:03 pm |

Fosse wasn’t with the A’s in the days of the vested unis (the only regular gold mono, and they wore it pretty much every other game, home and road, from ’64 through ’71). Didn’t get to Oakland ’til ’73.

He and Rudi most likely were talking about the gold and green jerseys of the white-panted sansabelt set that debuted in ’72. If they were talking about “all gold” or “all green” with that set they were, um, flat-out wrong. Period.

Shouldn’t we know by now that most former players don’t remember dick about the uniforms they wore? Certainly not the details.

—Ricko

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 4:18 pm |

Come to think of it, they had to be just talking to hear themselves talk…because the only other option with those unis that began in ’72 was the white jersey.

It was worn for Sunday home games only.

So, according to them, we’re to believe that six days a week at home and seven days a week on the road the players thought the unis sucked.

—Ricko

LI Phil|
June 26, 2010 at 5:16 pm |

just to clarify on that…were fosse & rudi talking about wearing the gold TOPS and green TOPS…or a gold monochrome and a green monochrome

because, as ricko has already pointed out, yes…they wore those softball tops all the freakin time back then…but they were worn, i’d venture to say a good 99.5% of the time with WHITE PANTS (talking about the poly pullovers…worn 72-75 era)…

they may be remembering sucking in green TOPS or yellow TOPS, but they have no clue about what pants they wore, because they wore white pants, almost exclusively, during those years

Since when is a football helmet’s style “collegiate” or “professional” or “high school”? (Or are you having a bad day?)

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 4:12 pm |

Has anyone actually SEEN a royal blue jersey with red numbers?

Seriously.

If you have, you know that at about fifty feet away the colors run togther, and the number just kind of blurs out.

Would be a nightmare for fans in the stands to identify the players.

—Ricko

Daniel Rerko|
June 27, 2010 at 1:13 am |

I knew the red on the royal blue would be terrible, but that was one of the last of the tweaks I have done, so I just let it go. I would be ashamed to see anyone actually adopt that. I was just into that one for the more unique helmet design.

jesse|
June 26, 2010 at 4:19 pm |

O’s “celebrating” 40th anniversary of championship, wearing 1970 throwback, w/anniversary patch on left sleeve. Patch is definetly NOT something they wore in 1970. Nats wearing 1970 Senators uniform. Plenty of stirrup/high sock eyecandy. Both teams unis are by Majestic. Looks like Nats are wearing a different curly “W” cap than their norm. I recall Paul putting up a post awhile ago discussing this when Texas went with the Senators throwbacks.

mtjaws|
June 26, 2010 at 4:27 pm |

The Tampa Bay Rays are wearing their Navy Blue alts and the striped stirrups again today. And they are hitless thru 1 inning too!

I realize I’m a bit late to the party with this, but wanted to offer my positive feedback re: the site revisions/upgrades. In addition to finding all of the tweaks to be postive ones, I’m most impressed by the ability of Mr. Ekdahl to implement these changes while retaining the UW “feel” or reader interface that we’ve all come to know & love.

So many times on other sites I frequent, even welcome improvements are a bit jarring until one re-acclimates oneself to the new look & feel. In this case, tho, it feels like the same ol’ UW, only better.

Big props to Eck for all he does behind the scenes, & of course (echoing Jordan’s remarks in the “tweak” section) many thanks to Paul & Phil for their efforts to make the front of the house such a great place for all of us.

Eric|
June 26, 2010 at 5:04 pm |

oh my goodness those senators unis are so gorgeous. I wish they were called the senators and that they wore these every day…

LI Phil|
June 26, 2010 at 5:04 pm |

that sound you heard was the US interest in soccer dying for another 4 years

/RIP

mtjaws|
June 26, 2010 at 5:09 pm |

that sums up my interest in soccer.

Jim Vilk|
June 26, 2010 at 5:09 pm |

Indoor season starts in about five months!

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 5:20 pm |

Damn. And MLS was banking on an explosion in TV numbers, too.

inkracer|
June 26, 2010 at 5:33 pm |

I don’t think it’s really dying, sure, we are going to lose the fair weather supporters who only root for the US come the Olympics and the World Cup.
But the MLS has had (well, is having) quite an expansion explosion right now, with Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake, Houston, (the reinstatement of San Jose), Toronto, Seattle, and Philly joining the league since 2002, and Vancouver, Portland, Montreal, and one more team to be named later to be joining the league by 2012..

That being said, as long as the MLS has a salary cap, it will be the red-headed stepchild of Soccer Leagues worldwide.

mtjaws|
June 26, 2010 at 5:16 pm |

I just found a clever reference to the annoying drone of vuvuzelas. Go to any video on youtube, and in the bottom row of video controls, click on the little soccer ball next to the resolution setting. Then you’ll get to hear the soothing hum drown out the entire audio/video! Just like on TV!

Other than the Anniversary Patch noted above, the Orioles and Senators throwbacks look real sweet. Lots of stirrups on display. I’m not sure the O’s black NOB is as perfectly vertically arched as it should be.

LarryB|
June 26, 2010 at 5:59 pm |

I think Ghana may have the best looking uniforms in the World Cup that I have seen. From what I have seen so far.

Ed lanum|
June 26, 2010 at 7:21 pm |

No screenshot but the cubs are wearing a TERRIBLE 20000 games played logo on their sleeve

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 7:22 pm |

How’d they play in their other games?

JTH|
June 27, 2010 at 1:23 am |

Spectacularly, of course.

And that patch really did look like crap. The design itself is not bad, but the patch was just really cheap-looking.

Nice job to think of the stirrup extender, though it’s inexcusably silly not to use red to match the rest of the stirrup. Almost looks like one of those silly Maddux socks, the way the stripe is oh-so-close to being finished.

Ricko|
June 26, 2010 at 10:00 pm |

That’s why you’d see guys like Frank Robinson and Hawk Harrelson have two pair of stirrups combined into one.

(Anyone who has to ask how that was done probably should steer clear of a career in engineering).

Man, I hope Paul (and everyone else!) is catching this A’s throwback game. Love seeing the uniforms, but the CSN broadcast is also using classic graphics, and Monte Poole (former A’s announcer) just came into the booth and gave a history lesson on uniforms, and it turned into an episode of Antiques Roadshow practically when he went into detail about his “dinger bell,” which he did get to ring, thankfully.

I believe Omar Vizquel may have been channeling Carmelo Martinez tonight in the way he was wearing his jersey.

rpm|
June 27, 2010 at 2:35 am |

let me try this new quote thing…or he has traditionally rolled his shirt.

rpm|
June 27, 2010 at 2:58 am |

okay, i can’t find pixtures, but omar has been my favourite player since he came into the league with seattle, was even a “gold glove club” member, and i know he has rolled his sleeves many a time…not that i have proof. time for bed, duetschland uber alles in the morn.

JTH|
June 27, 2010 at 8:52 am |

Well, at least you knew what I was referring to. I couldn’t find pix, either.

I don’t recall seeing him do it in the past, but maybe that’s because, with the jerseys he’s worn, the rolling wouldn’t be as obvious as it is with the black Sox jersey.

I do know that I haven’t seen him do it this year until last night. But that could be because I haven’t paid any attention to Chicago baseball (for good reason) until very recently.